Was This House Ever Flooded??

One of the questions we get the most from real estate agents and prospective home buyers is ‘How do we find out if a house has had flood damage?’ This is a great question, especially here on Long Island and other coastal towns in the Tri-State area after Sandy, when a lot of homes were flooded that never had water in them before.

The answer is both simple and hard at the same time. Most insurance companies report losses to a company called C.L.U.E. which stands for Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange. It’s a service most insurance companies subscribe to which lets them share information on losses based on address, name, and more.

After Sandy, one of the things FEMA did was have some meetings with agents and brokers about how things were being handled. One of the questions brought up there was how the next generation of buyers would know if a home had flooded in Sandy. We specifically asked if this information was going to be made available via the C.L.U.E. or other system.

Their answer was that they consider this private information and will make it available ONLY to the property owner. Why they think this is an issue for them and not for every other insurance company doing business out there, is beyond me. As usual, they are the government and they are here to help…

So what’s the simple answer? It’s that on all flood insurance renewal policies sent to the property owner, there is a page that includes any flood insurance losses that the home has had! So you just need to ask the current property owner to show that page. It will either have the claims listed, or indicate that there have been no claims. If the property owner has already given you the correct information, this will confirm it. If they have said there have been no losses but are reluctant to provide the proof, it’s probably time to worry. And if they say they don’t have it, that can easily be solved by asking the agent/broker on the policy.

Conclusion – don’t buy a house or other property without getting the right information. Flooding is going to get worse, not better.